Easter is fast approaching as my feathered girls decide to up their egg-laying game, It always amazes me how beautiful those eggs are to me. I have a variety. Two hens are Aracaunas...the ones who lay the colored eggs. At one time I had both green and blue hued eggs but the green laying hen is gone, so I have two blue-egged layers. Then I have two Cuckoo Marans and two Buff Orpingtons who all lay brown eggs.
You may think, wow, the blue eggs don't need to be dyed and the brown eggs can't be. Wrong! I often deepen the color on the blue eggs. And the brown ones make the best deep colors! I love to dye them. The colors are dark but I like it that way.
Since the gals are giving so much to me, I've been thinking about improvements to their lives. I've always put straw down for their bedding but I've heard that pine shavings make nice bedding. It has to smell nice. And I imagine it might stay cleaner longer. My flock has been busy this year digging around the fenced in run. If I hadn't had rocks surrounding the perimeter they would have surely escaped or had a predator visit. I ordered some soil to put along the edge and then I'll top that with decorative edging stone. It should keep them contained nicely. Every winter I have stick clean up duty, so I'll be doing that too. Through the years I've tried to get the girls to nest in fancy nest boxes my husband made. But you know what they choose to do? Yep, they fight to lay in an old plastic laundry basket.
Oh well, at least they lay for me. And this year I can sell enough eggs to pay for their feed, and give me plenty of eggs to boot. It's a win-win for each side!
Add comment
Comments